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Armor wars comic update#
Ellis tells his story like it’s a play-by-play account of the original, and never really offers any sort of update for today’s geopolitical climate. However, what proliferation meant when the original arc was written – and that was major players on the world scene given access to these new destructive technologies – is hugely different from what proliferation means today – the placing of the power to shape worlds in the hands of unstable and untraceable individuals. Let’s face it – the story is an analogy for proliferation, and Iron Man more than any other mainstream hero is the perfect vehicle for that theme. That isn’t to say that the series’ failings are entirely out of Ellis’ control. There’s no time to stop and consider the implications or what it all means, because… well, there simply isn’t time. Tony breezes from one encounter to another with relative ease. On one hand, at four issues (just about one hundred pages), the miniseries feels… well, insubstantial. Unfortunately, despite all the beautiful promise contained in the four-issue miniseries, it ultimate ( ha!) ends ups being more than a bit of a mixed bag. Iron Man) and writer of perhaps the most recent classic Iron Man story in the pantheon ( Extremis), to offer a new and up-to-date telling of the tale. Marvel drafted in Warren Ellis, the author of the last ultimate Iron Man miniseries ( Ultimate Hulk vs. So they are the perfect vehicle for modernising characters, particularly in light of big screen franchises – so Ultimate Spider-Man accompanied Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man, Ultimate X-Men was effectively a companion to Bryan Singer’s X-Men. The goal was to take these established concepts and start them from scratch again.
Armor wars comic free#
The notion is that these stories should offer readers these iconic characters free from the burden of half-a-century of backstory. Marvel has, in the last decade, attempted to make comic books more accessible by launching what they call an “Ultimate” line. It was a wonderful exploration of the heart of the character – a former arms manufacture now in the business of exporting peace – and one which undoubtedly (and admittedly) influenced the John Favreau’s Iron Man sequel.
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It’s ridiculous to suggest a retelling of an iconic writer’s tenure, but remaking a single iconic story seems much more reasonable and more than a bit smart – surely it’s a great way to bring readers into step with arguably the most popular comic book character in the world right now?įor those unfamiliar with Iron Man’s comic book history, Armour Wars was an arc which saw Tony attempting to contain the dissemination of his hardware through the criminal underworld. It’s also perhaps the reason that this particular miniseries – essentially a modernised continuity-light retelling of a classic story – seems like such a great idea. Perhaps that’s a strength when releasing a big budget blockbuster like Iron Man 2 – it’s easy to flood the market with reprints of six or seven issue storylines, rather than having to deal with huge chunks of narrative. On the other hand, when we talk about Iron Man, we talk about Armour Wars or Demon in a Bottle or Extremis.
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When we talk about Daredevil, for example, we talk about Frank Miller and Brian Michael Bendis when we talk about the X-Men, we talk about Chris Claremont when we talk about the Green Lantern, we talk about Geoff Johns.
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Iron Man has always been a character better suited to defining character arcs than to defining runs – which is arguably odd, when considered with most iconic characters.
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